They are gutting Black Mage even more in 7.2

[Aelin_Ashryver]

Could kinda see this coming with how much movement is still in the encounters and the design concept of the BLM not working well with it, esp for someone just wanting to play the most iconic job casually.

I think there were other ways they could have improved the job to make it approachable for more people and also have raid statics not hate progging with a BLM. I'm interested to try the job and see how it feels. But keeping up enochian and pulling off your cast on a tight timer is very satisfying. Main points of annoyance for me were procs dropping off due to long lines and that flarestar felt very weak potency and animation wise for the build up too it.

I very much enjoy the blm as it is presently. I expect I will still enjoy the class after the changes, I wasn't ever really into non standard, and I don't want non standard being mandatory for movement as it was previously in some fights. But I was more hoping they would tone down the huge and long sections of continuous movement in fights rather than making sweeping changes to BLM.

On the bright side I think more pugs will be open to BLM in their groups now.

[Red-thunder]

Could kinda see this coming with how much movement is still in the encounters and the design concept of the BLM not working well with it, esp for someone just wanting to play the most iconic job casually.

This entire game's identity and charm has been killed off so that the mythical "casual player" can do anything they want with zero effort.

[ElenaFairweather]

Nobody wants this, please just leave BLM alone...

[luca20]

At this point this feels like the BLM designer is spiteful of the players that enjoy the job.

Firt 6.0 brought uneeded changes that were all for the worse, destroying the amazing design of EW BLM just to destroy non-standard in it's entirety, not caring how it would affect the vast mayority of BLm players that might not even know non-standard existed.

By 6.1 they did kinda fix this mess, lowering the level of umbral soul and adding insta cast despair which opened the door to completly new optimization.
...
So they saw the people rebuild non standard and decided to burn everything to the ground until not even the husk of BLM is left.

Whoever did this just didn't like BLM nor understood why people liked BLM, I find many people recognize that BLM is not for them and they don't enjoy it's playstyle, but still respected it as good and interesting dssign that filled a niche. Seems the devs don't understand this concept at all.

[Azurarok]

Only from Google translate, however, I haven't seen many posts over there (literally went to the BLM thread) and it seems to be a similar sentiment, who asked for this? sort of deal.

Take that with a grain of salt though because Google translate.

Google translate's correct. There's also 2 posters in there that were clearly using machine translation but given the upvotes and the other posts everyone in there seems to share the same sentiment so far.

[User202503201232]

Here's some translation:

The live broadcast of Black Mage gameplay currently shows the following changes:

Enochian timer removed
Ley Lines duration reduced to 20 seconds
Firestarter proc no longer has a time limit
Caster tax removed (GCD > cast time)

Is this really what Black Mage players wanted?

I **didn’t notice at first** when I watched the video, but after reviewing it again, I can definitely see that the **15-second countdown is gone**.

That countdown was always **one of the biggest constraints**, so in that sense, **this is actually a major benefit**.
Most importantly, it means **we no longer have to swap to Umbral Ice just to refresh the Enochian timer when Astral Fire is about to expire**.

Also, **Fire IV and other spells seem to cast faster**.
However, I’m curious about how the **potency values** will be adjusted—**Fire IV was shown at 320**.

Since **casting time is now shorter than the GCD**, that means **the number of casts per unit time will increase**.
If the **potency per cast remains unchanged**, the **total damage output over time would increase significantly**.

To prevent **an excessive DPS jump compared to pre-7.1**, it’s likely that they’ll **reduce the potency per cast slightly**.

Additionally, **according to the video, Astral Soul stacks still reset to zero when transitioning to Umbral Ice**, just like before.

However, **since the countdown is gone**, it seems like **as long as you don’t transition to Umbral Ice unnecessarily, it won’t be a major issue**.

Regardless, **removing the countdown alone** is going to **significantly change how the job feels to play**.

I’ve completely given up on hoping for 6.x Black Mage to return.

I’m not even a Black Mage main, but how do actual Black Mage players feel about this?

In any case, it looks like they’ve completely abandoned the concept of "insanely high skill ceiling in exchange for equally high damage."

Maybe—just maybe—it’ll turn out to be surprisingly fun like 7.05 Samurai once we actually try it.

...But honestly? I highly doubt it.

It’s like they have a personal vendetta against timers with how aggressively they’ve been removing them this time around.

Even if I grudgingly accept that some changes need to be made to keep up with the times, why is it that they’re only taking things away without adding new, equally rewarding mechanics to replace them?

Can we please do something about that?

I tried my best to hype myself up... but I just can’t do it.

Let me say one thing—

DON’T REDUCE THE RISK (CAST TIMES)!!!!!!
INCREASE THE REWARD (DAMAGE) INSTEAD!!!!!!!!!!

Hello, it looks like Black Mage has undergone another lobotomy. I'm back to update you on the situation in the English-speaking fandom.

If you hate these changes, you're not alone. The English-speaking community is reacting even more harshly, with some players uninstalling the game.

At some point, it really feels like the developers aren’t listening to either of us.

The general sentiment among current Black Mage players is that once these changes hit live servers, the job will lose a lot of its fun. There are a few players who enjoy the changes, but among those actively discussing job design, they are an overwhelming minority.

Personally, I enjoy playing with the changes and understand the appeal of making the job more accessible to new players, but if it's not too late, I hope the developers reconsider.

Edit: Sorry if the translation quality is bad! lol

If the 7.2 Black Mage changes are really happening as described, I will choose to uninstall the game.

After removing the 6.0 playstyle, I feel like a compelling new playstyle hasn’t been properly introduced to replace it.

If the developers aren’t capable of coming up with an engaging alternative, wouldn’t it be better to just leave things as they are instead of making unnecessary changes?

I’ve been giving feedback since 7.0, and I cannot support the oversimplification you’ve implemented.
Everything feels rigid and dull now.

I thought the 7.1 changes were a great start, but unfortunately, 7.2 has ruined everything.

Casual players already have plenty of accessible content and job options to choose from.
So why are you so fixated on simplifying Black Mage?
It really feels like you’re ignoring the voices of the player base.

We love Black Mage—it’s meant to be a powerful, turret-like job that delivers massive damage.

The PTC (Party Content meta) has already driven away a large number of Black Mage players, and now, with these new changes, it feels like you’re trying to drive out the remaining ones too.

I genuinely want to ask: Are you actually playing the game before making these decisions?

I’m sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I used to truly love this game—now, I just feel heartbroken.
I hope you can understand how I feel.

I used to love the feeling of pulling off a perfect rotation, overtaking melee in enmity rankings, and thinking, "I'm so damn powerful!"—but with melee DPS getting buffs too, I guess that experience is going away...

I know I can’t fight against the trend of simplification, and maybe that’s what most players want...
But what I wanted wasn’t "system simplification."
What I wanted was "rotation flexibility," and a rewarding trade-off: high damage in exchange for difficulty and lack of party support.
I guess that’s just not what the game is going for anymore…

I always thought each caster had a distinct identity in how their casts worked:

Summoner: Almost fully instant-cast.
Red Mage: Alternates between casted and instant spells.
Pictomancer: Cast time < Recast time.
Black Mage: Cast time > Recast time.

And that made them feel unique. Even within Black Mage, instant-cast optimizations provided meaningful DPS boosts.
But now? This isn’t Black Mage anymore—it’s just Pictomancer in disguise.

Maybe I’m just an outdated Black Mage player stuck in the past, but I still want them to leave at least some challenge (and sense of achievement) in the job.

At the very least, they could stop at making cast time = recast time, instead of shortening it even further…

For me, Black Mage has always been about balancing high firepower and movement restrictions by utilizing:

Flexible skill rotations using Transpose to adapt to encounter timelines.
Swiftcast and Triplecast during Astral Fire to maximize damage while managing movement.

These mechanics allowed Black Mage to unleash its full potential and contribute to clearing content, and that’s what made the job enjoyable.

Personally, I found Endwalker’s (6.x) version particularly engaging, but 7.1 also struck a good balance. It introduced flexibility in rotations while ensuring that the standard (6 Fire IV) and alternative rotations didn’t differ too drastically in performance.

In 7.1, the instant-cast Despair created more opportunities to utilize Transpose, and there were multiple resource-based attack routes using Lucid Dreaming, Paradox, and Firestarter procs.

However, based on the information from the PLL gameplay footage, it looks like the changes in 7.2 will force players into a nearly fixed standard rotation.

Additionally, shortening Fire IV’s cast time eliminates the instant-cast Fire IV damage boost technique, which was a rewarding skill expression (perhaps only Flare Star will retain this aspect?).

That said, removing the timers for Enochian and procs makes the job more accessible to beginners, and I don’t necessarily see a problem with that (though I haven’t examined every fine detail yet).
Making the entry-level experience smoother is fine, as long as there’s still depth for players who want to master Black Mage—which there was, at least until 7.1.

However, if the core aspects that make the job fun are removed, that’s a major disappointment.

I’ve personally loved Black Mage, but in 7.0 Savage, due to its low performance, I ended up playing healer instead.
For 7.2 Savage, I had been practicing Black Mage again, but given the current situation, regardless of its firepower compared to Pictomancer, I don’t see myself enjoying Black Mage anymore.

At this rate, I may never play Black Mage again.

Flare Star is 500.
Thunder spells and P-gauge buff are now permanent.
Foul’s damage reduction goes from 60% to 25%.
Xenoglossy is 890.

Well, up to this point, it's fine.

Blizzard IV is 300 (which means Fire IV is also 300?).
Enochian timer is removed.
Casting speed is increased (Yoshida said that for a spell speed (SS) build, Fire IV is basically 2 seconds? Since it started at around 1.47 under Ley Lines.)

Sorry, but I don't see what's fun about this.

I get that content will have a unique feel, and we won’t know the full impact of these adjustments until we try them out, but...
SS build? Isn’t that outdated? lol The current trend is Crit-Direct Hit builds, right? I think making it like this was a bad move.

I’ve been playing Black Mage this whole time, but I’m starting to lose interest.

Well, at the very least, as long as Black Mage remains the highest DPS job no matter what adjustments they make, that’s fine. That’s how it’s always been.

Also, I don’t know if the devs or the job balancing team have forgotten, but Pure DPS jobs are supposed to be able to output more damage than synergy-based DPS when played properly, even when factoring in party synergy.

If they remember that, then it’s all good. But if they don’t, this game will forever remain in a state where synergy jobs are overwhelmingly dominant, and Pure DPS jobs (Samurai, Black Mage, Machinist, etc.) will have no reason to exist. Hope they understand that.

All of my Black Mage friends around me are saying things like:

"That job has no future anymore, right?"
"The rotation is boring. The 6.x-style situational rotations were way more fun."
"I’m not interested in Black Mage anymore."
"That garbage job is useless now."
"It’s just a job that only survives because of its die-hard fans, but it’s not needed."
"People keep calling it 'Yoshi-Mage,' but from 7.0 onwards, Yoshida’s main job clearly isn’t Black Mage anymore."

It was just a complete roasting session.

The only thing they liked from the changes discussed here was the permanent duration of the Thunder spells and Firestarter buff.

Of course, it’s impossible to take in every single opinion, and everyone will always say whatever they want. But at the very least, there were many ideas that, if implemented, could have made the job more interesting.

I heard that Pictomancer is getting nerfed, but since it has synergy abilities, if it still ends up stronger than Black Mage because of synergy, then it doesn’t even matter, does it?

I hate to say this again, but please, fix Black Mage… actually, fix all pure DPS jobs.

Changes can be exciting, but what Black Mage players want isn’t simplification. We want something brutally difficult but with insane damage rewards in return.

It’s not about whether someone can pull it off or not—it’s about the constant effort to improve and master it.

Black Mage had a role in cultivating that kind of player mindset. If you destroy that, then what’s left?

Additionally, the "grants Umbral Blizzard" effect from Umbral Blizzard Paradox has been removed.

During the PLL (Live Letter) showcase, when Umbral Blizzard 1 was active and Umbral Blizzard Paradox was used, it didn’t upgrade to Umbral Blizzard 2—it just stayed at Umbral Blizzard 1.

Because of this, the previous strategy of Transposing → Umbral Blizzard Paradox → Blizzard → Blizzard IV → Normal rotation to safely dodge first-time mechanics is no longer possible.

It looks like the Enochian timer removal is pretty much confirmed at this point...

The removal of the Enochian time restriction makes no sense.

They could have just increased the duration slightly (from 15s → 20s) instead.

The casting speed buff is even more confusing. As others have mentioned, instead of making the job easier, they should have increased the damage output as a reward for difficulty.

Even if Black Mage ends up stronger than Pictomancer, it doesn't feel great knowing that players who have been using Pictomancer could just switch to Black Mage and easily output high DPS without the effort that used to be required.

Correction:

It doesn't just feel bad—it feels absolutely terrible.

[AlextheRascal]

I haven't posted on a thread before, but for me, this is important enough to make me do so. DT so far has seen the dev team making some... questionable decisions. Over time all the jobs have been made easier. It started with SMN getting declawed, and I thought, "OK, they have one easy job. At least they still have one hard job, too, so people can have choices." Today, they decided to kill that job and turn it into another SMN because they refuse to make any sort of meaningful change to their golden child PCT, and instead of just buffing BLm, they decided to just make it easy.

They promised in 8.0 that they would make jobs more unique, and then they decided to make this change, which makes BLM, the sole job they have that truly has a unique identity, into just a regular caster closer to SMN. All hope and goodwill I had for that has been lost. This is apparently the direction they are walking and I'm not sure if I have an interest in following. I really hope they turn back and show us that they hear the community and want jobs to stay unique. We want SOME jobs that are hard. I am not saying all jobs should be hard but there should be a mix. Having everything feel like a Genshin job, but with button bloat, it feels bad.

[BunnyReaper]

This is disgraceful, genuinely. I am not a Black Mage main but this is just really sad, they need to stop taking skill expression away from every single job, Black Mage was the only one that feel at least different from the rest. Knowing that whoever has made this change is going to work on ALL jobs in 8.0, makes me really scared for Reaper, my main, and all other melees.

Yes there should be simple jobs in the game but not ALL of them. And Black Mage was the only one that felt like a caster with its slow casts and now they're taking that away.

Please stop taking away skill expression and PLEASE do not ruin melees. (Or any other job for that matter).

I have no faith, it's been a good run, Reaper.

[BunnyReaper]

Here's some translation:

Are these all from JP,DE,FR forums?

Either way, it's hard to disagree. This whole situation is making me quite worried about the future of my favourite job.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

Unironically, the changes they get will inevitably draw in some new ‘fans’ to the job & I bet those new fans will be SE’s new scapegoat as to why they make these shift of BLM’s core design.

It has happened before, it happens again, and it will happen more & more in the future.

RIP our only turret’y caster. You will be missed.

EDIT: Curious how the forum is getting a lot of 502 server errors lol. Is that because the forums are overflowing with these sort of complaints?